Automotive Heritage Awards – Industry Updates & More – Bulletin #2

This “Bulletin” from the Automotive Heritage Foundation is meant to keep our automotive heritage community informed about what’s happening in our sphere of interest. Please join us in promoting and celebrating automotive history, culture and aesthetics by becoming a member of the Foundation. And, feel free to send us the news you’d like to share.

Automotive Heritage Awards

Entries are coming in now for the third Automotive Heritage Journalism Awards. Csaba Csere will lead the judging this year so let him know if you would like to help judge. And we hope our journalist friends will enter their best work from 2019. The Awards will be presented at the Brembo tent at the Concours d’Elegance of America on July 26. Thanks to Brembo, the Concours, Kiekert, the Women in Automotive Alliance Foundation, the Society of Automotive Historians and other supporters who make the project possible.

1958 Ferrari 335 S Spyder Named Best Show Car in the World

Distinguished among car shows around the country are the “Concours d’Elegance,” (French for Exhibition of Elegance) – essentially the major league of car shows. In the U.S. that means Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, the Concours d’Elegance of America near Detroit and a dozen or two others. These are rivaled only by the European events. The movers and shakers – collectors, organizers, designers, judges, experts of many genre – gather once per year to nominate and determine the “Best of the Best” juried from among just the top winners of Concours events internationally. Who knew such an honor existed? First, they established eight nominees and then decided a winner. In this case, it was the 1958 Ferrari 335 Spyder with body by Scagliette, owned by Andreas Mohringer of Salzburgh, Austria, that won the 2019 Cavallino Classic. Other contenders included: a 1950 Abarth 205 Berlinetta, 1931 Stutz Convertible Victoria, 1931 Bentley 8 Litre Dual Cowl Tourer, and a swoopy 1948 Talbot-Lago Coupe.

Ford vs. Ferrari Wins Oscars

We reported via our last Bulletin that the stunning film about Ford’s quest to beat Ferrari at Le Mans in the late 1960s was nominated for multiple Academy Awards. Well, it won a couple. While it did not win Best Picture, for which it was nominated, it did win Sound Editing and Film Editing honors. Ford vs. Ferrari also earns our recommendation as a racing film you must see if you appreciate automotive heritage.

America’s Automotive Trust Recruiting

Vintage Station Wagons for Cross Country Drive

LA to Detroit in June

Our friends at America’s Automotive Trust, parent organization for the LeMay – America’s Car Museum and other entities, invites enthusiasts to be part of “The Drive Home V,” the fifth epic cross-country road trip to support the Le May and the North American International (Detroit) Auto Show. The project began when David Madiera, then in charge at the LeMay, and NAIAS boss, Rod Alberts, cooked up a plan to take three old Detroit-built cars out of the museum in Tacoma, WA and drive them to Detroit in the dead of Winter to be part of the opening of the NAIAS, one of the most important motor shows in the world. Why, you ask? Because they can . . . and to promote the idea that these wonderful old cars need to be out and about where they can be appreciated by a wider audience. For 2020 the NAIAS moved from January to June and this year’s road trip will begin in California and feature station wagons. So, if you appreciate that mission and have a bit of adventure in your soul, you might want to join in on The Drive Home V.

Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild at the Gilmore

The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan (just north of Kalamazoo) will extend the remarkable display of Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild cars and memorabilia through September of 2021. The Guild, beginning in 1930, gave youngsters the opportunity to display their creativeness and hands-on skills to General Motors by way of a modeling competition with big prizes and scholarships, often resulting in a job. Beginning with building models of the Napoleonic coach, the Fisher Body symbol, the competition quickly became focused on youngsters designing and building their own cars. During the height of its popularity more than half the GM design staff came through the FBCG competitions. If you’ve not been to the Gilmore, or if it’s been a while since you’ve visited, it is well worth the trip to discover the FBCG and one of the most important museum complexes in the country.

Winter Marathon Rally in the Dolomites

More than a hundred, mostly pre-1968, vintage cars contested the 2020 Winter Marathon Rally in Italy last month. The 450-km event includes time trials, regularity tests and 13 mountain passes. The rally finished with a frozen-lake race. Winners were the team of Andrea Belometti and Massimo Bettinsoli in a 1937 Fiat 508C. For the story and some wonderful pictures see:

Revology Mustang Toots Its Own Horn

“No other company has built as many consecutive 1960s Mustangs since Ford back in the 1960s,” according to Tom Scarpello of the Orlando-based company that builds modernized 1965-1968 Mustangs and Shelby GTs. The amazing number is . . . 50.

Famous Automotive Artists Lost

Two of the best known and most influential automotive fine artists in the country died within weeks of each other recently. Syd Mead was a world-renowned creator of futuristic art, often featuring automobiles and other transport devices, who worked extensively with the motion picture industry. He passed away December 30. And, Bill Motta, who helped found the Automotive Fine Art Society, best known for his decades of work at Road &Track magazine, died January 22.

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